Merrill Edge Face Retirement app goes 3D

In an ongoing effort to motivate Americans to face the realities of costs related to retirement, today Merrill Edge® introduced the new Face Retirement mobile app.

This new app builds on the success of the web-based Face Retirement tool originally launched in 2012 and recently upgraded. Almost 1 million individuals have used the tool, with 60 percent of them choosing to learn more about retirement and beginning to plan for the future. The new experience for 2014 starts by giving users a life-like 3D animation of their future self, enabling them to envision every wrinkle they could encounter at their retirement age - and beyond.

"It's an eye-opening experience to see what you may look like 40 years in the future," said Alok Prasad, head of Merrill Edge. "Stanford University research - and the experience of thousands of Merrill Edge customers - show that people brave enough to look into the crystal ball are much more likely to take control of their retirement planning. It's a vivid reminder that everything you do today impacts your future."

The new Face Retirement app, available for free download in the Apple App Store, simply asks users to input their age and gender and use their smartphone camera to snap a selfie. With this information, 3D imaging technology goes to work creating a life-like image that can be aged further into the future than most people care to think about. Users can then:

View a futuristic image of what they may look like in the years to come. Educate themselves on the forecasted costs of living when they are at any specific age. Learn about their options to begin saving and investing today. Bravely share pictures of their future self on Facebook and Twitter for fun.

The vast majority of mass affluent Americans have a long way to go to reach their retirement goals, and increasing numbers of mass affluent are planning to retire later than they originally anticipated, according to the Merrill Edge Report. In 2011, 47 percent of mass affluent Americans said they were actively delaying retirement and that number ballooned to 61 percent by fall 2013. That's why the Face Retirement tool is iool is intended to educate people in a fun and engaging way, and begin to get them ready to face their retirement.